Cydia

Typing can be very cumbersome in iOS, since going back and actually editing the text requires what seems like a lot of work to get the smallest task done. Fortunately, a new application by iOS developer Akhil Tolani called SwipeType makes this task a little less cumbersome. The application is available from the App Store for 99˘. Akhil bounces back and forth between App Store and jailbreak development, so we had to show off one of his neat new App Store creations.

As shown above, the application looks somewhat similar to the stock Notes application, with that yellow note-like paper. You will notice all the different buttons at the bottom, which carry all kinds of different functions with the text that you type onto the virtual notepad paper. The buttons include:

A Google button that launches an in-app Google search for the text on the page

A switch-line button for getting to a certain line of text quickly

A clear button for clearing the text on the page

A replace button for replacing text on the page with a different text

A define button for defining a selected word on the page

A Pastie button for sending the text on the page to the popular Pastie Web site

A Facebook button for sharing the text on the page to Facebook

A shortcuts button for showing you a list of keyboard gestures you can use in the app

In addition, the application supports swipe gestures on the keyboard to perform different actions. One example is swiping from the Space bar to the ‘A’ key to select all text. When you perform actions, the Status Bar shows what you have done. The application comes with all of the following keyboard gesture shortcuts:

Swipe from Space to A to select all text

Swipe from Space to C to copy all selected text

Swipe from Space to X to cut all selected text

Swipe from Space to V to paste any text in your clipboard

Swipe from Space to S to select the current word the cursor is in

Swipe from Space to H to select the word before your cursor

Swipe from Space to J to select the word after your cursor

Swipe from Space to K to move your cursor back a character

Swipe from Space to L to move your cursor forward a character

Swipe from Space to M to scroll to the end of the text on the page

Swipe from Space to Q to scroll to the beginning of the text on the page

Swipe from Space to Z to undo an action

Swipe from Space to Y to redo an action

For each of the aforementioned buttons, a popup pane comes up allowing the user to enter any input they may need to.

The application includes preferences that you can set to your liking. From the preferences, you can select your own font (over 150 to choose from), select your own font color, change the text size, and change the text alignment. You can also toggle the background lines so it resembles the Notes application even more and choose to enable or disable Auto-correct in the application, which is good because so many people hate how Auto-correct can mis-correct a word you are trying to spell.

SwipeType comes with great animations for the text field pop-ups, application startup, and more. The animations are very fluid and keep the level of fun high along with the seemingly limitless amount of options. SwipeType also includes a live character counter at the top of the application and the ability to name the note by tapping on the ‘Note Title’ at the top of the page. In addition, it has its own manageable documents library; all this packed into a beautiful, retina display-supported application.

At this point in time, the application supports iCloud and Dropbox, but does not support external keyboards. The developer is actively working on the application and is accepting requests for features. If you think the keyboard shortcuts will help make text-editing easier for you, this application could be worth the investment; check it out!

So it's only useful in this specific app and not the entire phone...
That sux! I love KBShortcuts!!!

Not true; it can be useful from outside the application. The sharing options in the app are extensive to Facebook, Pastie, Twitter, Dropbox, and much more. However, yes, the actions themselves can only be performed from the application.

Not true; it can be useful from outside the application. The sharing options in the app are extensive to Facebook, Pastie, Twitter, Dropbox, and much more. However, yes, the actions themselves can only be performed from the application.